Monitoring Cloud Projects Strengthens BYOC Approach

Thursday, September 5, 2013 - 12:27pm

The consumerization of IT is forcing technical and business directors to address new IT movements that were not always a concern in the past. The bring-your-own-cloud (BYOC) strategy in particular is driving decision-makers to rethink their cloud computing initiatives and how the hosted services are managed in general because failing to ensure all cloud solutions are under the control of the IT department can potentially introduce long-term security and performance concerns.

Although BYOC is often associated with employees leveraging consumer-based cloud environments in the workplace, the programs also need to include the deployment of public cloud services that haven't been authorized by the IT department, according to a report by The Server Side. The trend of people are leveraging unauthorized clouds is occurring more often today thanks to the way cloud computing has democratized IT, allowing anyone with a credit card to implement a hosted environment.

In many cases, workers and managers implementing cloud infrastructure services on their own do so with the best intentions because leveraging a pre-made, easily accessible, and highly scalable architecture can deliver significant cost and opportunity benefits to the company, the news source noted. If these deploymentâ are not addressed, however, they also have the potential to turn on users and make managing mission-critical resources more difficult if IT departments lose the visibility they need to track and manage crucial assets.

Monitor all cloud activity
The Server Side stated that it's important that enterprises have the ability to monitor their resources hosted in the cloud at all times, regardless of whether those tools are in a public or private cloud environment. Although the hosted landscape is inherently safe, having visibility into how efficiently applications and other assets are performing will ensure IT departments have the ability to make adjustments if needed to align with crucial objectives and goals.

Network World highlighted how executives should set expectations when using the cloud, allowing them to notice when those requirements aren't fully met. In many cases, leveraging a private cloud environment in-house can make it easier for managers to make quick adjustments to stay aligned with target metrics.

If organizations take control of their cloud procurement and implementation projects, BYOC initiatives shouldn't pose a challenge. In many cases, these projects can introduce measurable operational and financial benefits as long as decision-makers have the power to monitor all cloud projects.

Though there's no substitute for intuition in a creative industry, but big data certainly has its place in steering young designers and major fashion houses alike in the right direction for their next big show.